If that neighborhood demands having a garage...then you might be damaging your value and rentability by enclosing that garage. 

Market value for each home after reno is 175-200k.

I’d love to hear about your investing journey and I hopeI can bring you some value as well!

Those that respond “$0” or something ridiculous, you can request income documentation from them to justify.Don’t be afraid to share with them how much your property taxes & Insurance increased and that YOU cannot afford to absorb them.ALWAYS get an increase or something of value annually or tenants will start thinking they should never have an increase, making future increases that much more difficult to negotiate.

I'll be tuned in and hope to bring this much value as I learn the lingo in Real Estate. 

I have been looking and doing some research on different areas to invest into and so far I have gathered information on which zip codes to avoid, the crime data for Detroit & neighboring cities/towns, rental values, demographics &  economic outlook. however, I haven't been able to narrow down on any particular neighborhood yet.

How would an appraiser determine value without local, recent comps?

I am interested in becoming a real estate investor I want to learn as much as I can before I dive into the world of real estate I have read many bigger pocket books and love listening to the podcast on the way home from work.I have a few questions if anybody would like to reach out and help it would be greatly appreciated hopefully I can bring value to you as well.

I'll also be adding value to the property to maximize rent.

The projected appreciation is tough to assign a value to, but 3% is a good conservative number, then it just depends on how much the property is worth.